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You should play 2nd edition, they fixed that.Seriously, though. I do like adding templates to bad guys, especially unexpected ones. Like I'm prepping another one-shot in case the GM can't make it, and the final encounter is a half-fiend unicorn. That should surprise the players.Too many of them are already templated to hell and back.
Sometimes I add like 50% more hp. Sometimes I add enemies.
At the end of book 4, I combined three encounters and had them fight all the enemies at once. That one gave a few paper cuts.
I will admit - running a high level P1 game is making me never want to run P1 again.
The enemy stat blocks are atrocious. They are full of spells the enemies will never use, and laundry lists of feats that can interact with combat in all sorts of ways, but only if the GM remembers all of them and knows what they all do.
Holy crap, that's a real thing?
I thought I was just a lousy GM because I had to work so hard to run combats with those guys.
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I definitely have experienced similar problems in my high level games. Recent PFS runs have highlighted that incorporeal/ethereal creatures are pretty useful to outmaneuver the party melee and still be threats to deal with. Earthgliding foes like earth elementals also have some use in that regard.
My bigger problem is that even the archers are tough nuts to crack and generally, the entire party is overwhelmingly powerful compared to standard enemies. And I don't want to just BS a bunch of extra power to the NPCs too often, especially when in most cases it won't make a difference.
How?You should play 2nd edition, they fixed that.Seriously, though. I do like adding templates to bad guys, especially unexpected ones. Like I'm prepping another one-shot in case the GM can't make it, and the final encounter is a half-fiend unicorn. That should surprise the players.Too many of them are already templated to hell and back.
Sometimes I add like 50% more hp. Sometimes I add enemies.
At the end of book 4, I combined three encounters and had them fight all the enemies at once. That one gave a few paper cuts.
It's one of his running jokes. Pick anything deemed "deficient" or "broken" in PF1, however absurd.
"PF1 gave me herpes!"
"2nd Edition fixed that!"
It's true! Rub a Bestiary on them and watch them disappear.
I'd disappear pretty quickly too if someone started rubbing a Bestiary on me.
In other news, I bought 'The Black Hack' (another OSR-style rules-light game) a while ago, and recently, there were also some solo play adventures available for about £1.50, so I had a go at those today. 1st level Thief with four HP = much many deadifications, at the hands of vampiric toadlings/giant slugs/amorphous book guardians with glowing eyes and fangs, etc.
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I went to the kitchen to grab something to bite, only to hear a weird hissing sound...
I started looking around and discovered that the bottom of the water tap corroded through, and now was spraying water (into the sink, thankfully).
The tap was installed in 2015, when my friends were moving in. I had to shut the water valve for now.
Now (well, tomorrow, as it is late into night) I will need to find a suitable wrench to unscrew that crap, go to nearby shop, buy a new one, and then put it on. Hoping it will work without spillage or something. Urgh. Not the best end of the year.
Oh, and I don't seem to have the right-sized wrench at home. Maybe in the cellar. Maybe.
And the water tap in the bathroom, which was installed at the same time and is exactly the same model might break in the same way soon...
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As part of making an uber-fancy "2+ hours of prep time" lasagna I made my first bechamel sauce today. It entertained me because it's one of the "four sauces anyone trying to be a chef needs to be able to make", and it was dirt simple... and extremely boring.
The consistency was perfect, but I had no idea whatsoever whether it tasted right. It was just... boring.
And so I Googled, "What is bechamel sauce used for?"
And it really is, "A plain white sauce you use as a conduit for your other flavors."
In short, I made thick white edible goo.
Yum?
Sounds like Alfredo.
You've never had GothBard's Alfredo...
(And yeah, the whole family's reaction to the lasagna was, "It's fine," so that's a recipe I'll never be making again.)
As part of making an uber-fancy "2+ hours of prep time" lasagna I made my first bechamel sauce today. It entertained me because it's one of the "four sauces anyone trying to be a chef needs to be able to make", and it was dirt simple... and extremely boring.
The consistency was perfect, but I had no idea whatsoever whether it tasted right. It was just... boring.
And so I Googled, "What is bechamel sauce used for?"
And it really is, "A plain white sauce you use as a conduit for your other flavors."
In short, I made thick white edible goo.
Yum?
Yeah Béchamel is pretty easy. It all comes down to just gradually adding the milk. I would not use béchamel for alfredo. Otherwise a good cheese sauce. Like 2 weeks ago I made some and mixed it with gouda to go on our phillys.
boy was it bland.
Classic Alfredo is meant to be bland: it's just butter, cream, and grated Parmesan cheese.
Once you start adding garlic and other flavorings, you've moved away from "classic" into 'creative license' versions of butter and cream over pasta.
Sounds like Alfredo.You've never had GothBard's Alfredo...
(And yeah, the whole family's reaction to the lasagna was, "It's fine," so that's a recipe I'll never be making again.)
Good lasagna? I suggest this recipe Lasagna
For the best alfredo sauce you have ever had I suggest. Alfredo sauce
I'm alfraido say that a simple recipe for it doesn't pasta bar for me.
I would of used guyere if it wasn't so expensive.
There are only 4 "classic" sauces. Tomato got added by plebians to make the Italians feel better.
Hollandaise sauce just doesn't do it for me. I've never had Velouté sauce.
Oh you know what I guess I have I didn't think about that. Then I guess I like veloute sauces.
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boy was it bland.Classic Alfredo is meant to be bland: it's just butter, cream, and grated Parmesan cheese.
Once you start adding garlic and other flavorings, you've moved away from "classic" into 'creative license' versions of butter and cream over pasta.
I might as well just have shredded Parmesan on my pasta then.
I might as well just have shredded Parmesan on my pasta then.boy was it bland.Classic Alfredo is meant to be bland: it's just butter, cream, and grated Parmesan cheese.
Once you start adding garlic and other flavorings, you've moved away from "classic" into 'creative license' versions of butter and cream over pasta.
I've heard tale of people just putting parmesan and butter on pasta.
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I might as well just have shredded Parmesan on my pasta then.boy was it bland.Classic Alfredo is meant to be bland: it's just butter, cream, and grated Parmesan cheese.
Once you start adding garlic and other flavorings, you've moved away from "classic" into 'creative license' versions of butter and cream over pasta.
Toss in some black pepper and you’ve made “cacio e pepe”. It’s the signature pasta dish in Rome.
Nice. Just got to make sure when you use minimal ingredients they are also quality ingredients.
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Escoffier listed tomato sauce as a mother sauce, so do I.
OK. Made me look it up. Considering tomato was one of the original 4 and Hollandaise wasn't (which it shouldn't be anyway), I'll concede.
Escoffier listed tomato sauce as a mother sauce, so do I.
#29 Tomato Sauce, right after #28 Bechamel
we are about to loop. I was about to suggest if it's grainy to mix with some butter then all were missing is the flour...
Bechamel is just a vessel for cheese.
You're not wrong.
Bechamel is just a vessel for cheese.
I'm pretty sure it's French.
Bechamel is just a vessel for cheese.I'm pretty sure it's French.
You're not wrong.
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Yeah, maybe it was just that the recipe called for a "formal" bechamel, but spending 35 minutes to make a sauce that acts as a conduit for other sauces seems like a lot or work for mac and cheese. It was 20 minutes to get the roux to the right color, then another 15 minutes after adding the milk. And you have to pay attention the whole time to make sure it comes out smooth.
I'm sure it makes amazing mac and cheese, but it just seems like there are easier ways.
For example, our "standard" lasagna is just ground beef, Trader Joe's bolognese, two pounds of mozzarella, a pound of ricotta, some parmesan, and the noodles. It's really easy, and comes out "very good".
This newfangled one was wilted spinach, minced basil, two pounds of ricotta, 9 ounces of mozzarella, some parmesan, homemade tomato sauce (about 90 minutes), homemade bechemel (about 35 minutes), and the noodles. It was over two hours of intensive labor for a lasagna that was "fine".
If it's not "way better than usual", it's not worth the massive increase in effort.